1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an AV (Audio-Visual) device, and in particular to a network AV device connected to a network. Further, the present invention relates to an AV network system including a plurality of network AV devices mutually connected.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, AV devices such as a digital television (TV) on which digital broadcasting can be viewed and an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) recorder capable of saving broadcast contents in a built-in HDD have been in widespread use. Further, such AV devices have recently become capable of being connected with the Internet, a personal computer, and the like through a network utilizing the IP protocol.
Furthermore, a mechanism for mutually connecting an AV device, a personal computer, and the like via such a network to allow contents saved in various devices to be viewed at any location at home has been proposed by the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance).
In a case where DLNA-compliant devices are in widespread use and the number of devices mutually connected via the network is increased, if a user selects a device to view a content, devices other than the device in front of the user are also detected. In addition, since network identification information such as an IP address, a MAC address, a host name, and the like is the only information available to identify a device, it is difficult for the user to identify a device saving the content from among a plurality of devices.
As a method to solve the problem, the following has been proposed. Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2006-345479) discloses a method of identifying a device in front of a user by a device body making a response using video output from a display device, blinking of light from an LED, audio output from a speaker, or the like of the device body identified actually.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2006-345479